Concept

An issue I was aware of is the historical under-representation of women in history textbooks, despite their contributions to the world. I decided to create a resource for students, teachers, and researchers who wanted to include more women in their research reports and lesson plans.

User Research

I began with user research to learn more about the users and their pain points. It was clear that the main user need was being able to access information easily. Because women’s stories were often left out of history, it can be difficult to find women to include in papers and lesson plans. It became clear that the website should make it easy to discover the contributions of women during different time periods.

Additionally, a common pain point among students and researchers was the drudgery of keeping track of reference materials and formatting them according to required standards. I decided to include a section of the website where users could save citations with standard styles (APA and MLA).

Competitive Analysis

Looking at available websites that include women’s contributions to history, I noticed that many websites are devoted to history and have a page for women, but it is rare to have a website devoted solely to women. In addition, websites that feature women in history do not offer a way for users to save the profiles of women or keep track of references.

Design Process

My design process included ideating with paper wireframes, creating digital wireframes, moderating a small usability study, and creating digital mockups leading to the final prototype. I completed this process for different screen sizes. Small usability studies were performed to improve the design and navigation based on user feedback.

Conclusion

I enjoyed this project in all aspects: user research, content research, and visual design. I also love the idea of UX design making learning easier for users. I realize now how easy access to information and navigation can make learning more enjoyable. I look forward to creating similar design projects in the future.